Enforcement of drunk driving statutes is of ever increasing importance. One current procedure used by law enforcement departments to enforce such statutes is to establish randomly located sobriety check points and to there evaluate vehicle operators for alcohol abuse. Unfortunately, the procedures currently used at such check points are generally inefficient and almost always impede the flow of traffic, thereby limiting the number of vehicles which can be surveyed.
Current sobriety evaluation methods which may be reliable and quantitative involve physically invasive processes of sampling and analyzing breath, blood or urine of the vehicle operator. Such processes are time consuming and often objectionable to the vehicle operator. Further, the validity of such testing is often questioned. As a result, sobriety check points often rely on qualitative non-invasive procedures such as visual observation and simple coordination tests to reduce the time for each evaluation. Such qualitative non-invasive procedures are subject to large errors. Published data have shown that only about half of the drivers operating motor vehicles while under the influence of alcohol are detected even by well trained observers.
Accordingly, an alternative means of sobriety checking is needed to eliminate traffic disruption and to substantially improve upon the low detection rate and low probability of detection of a driver operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. The present invention satisfies such needs.